From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Satellite image of the intense nor'easter responsible for the North American blizzard of 2006. Note the hurricane-like eye at the center.

A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a macro-scale storm whose winds come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. More specifically, it describes a low pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the coast and whose leading winds in the left forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. The precipitation pattern is similar to other extratropical storms. They also can cause coastal flooding, coastal erosion and gale force winds.

Nor'easters are usually formed by an area of vorticity associated with an upper level disturbance or from a kink in a frontal surface that causes a surface low pressure area to develop. Such storms often move slowly in their latter, frequently intense, mature stage.

Until the nor'easter passes, thick dark clouds often block out the sun. During a single storm, the precipitation can range from a torrential downpour to a fine mist. Low temperatures and wind gusts of up to 90 miles per hour are also associated with a nor'easter. On very rare occasions, such as the North American blizzard of 2006, and a nor'easter in 1979, the center of the storm can even take on the circular shape more typical of a hurricane and have a small eye.

The northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, particularly the New England coast and Nova Scotia see nor'easters each year, most often in the winter and early spring, but also sometimes during the autumn. These storms can leave inches of rain or several feet of snow on the region, and sometimes last for several days.

The Atlantic coast, from northern Georgia northward up the coast, can suffer high winds, pounding surf and extreme rains during these storms. Nor'easters cause a significant amount of severe beach erosion in these areas, as well as flooding in the associated low-lying areas. Beach residents in these areas may actually fear the repeated depredations of Nor'easters over those of hurricanes, because they happen more frequently, and cause substantial damage to beachfront property and their dunes.

The term "nor'easter" comes to American English by way of British English and the points of the compass and wind or sailing direction. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first recorded use in the English language of the term "nore" ("north") in association with the points of the compass and wind direction is by Dekker in 1612 ("How blowes the winde Syr?" "Wynde! is Nore-Nore-West."), with similar uses occurring in 1688 (". . . Nore and Nore-West . . .") and in 1718 (". . . Nore-west or Nore-nore-west."). These recorded uses are predated by use of the term "noreast," first recorded as used by Davis in 1594 ("Noreast by North raiseth a degree in sayling 24 leagues."). Thus, the manner of pronouncing from memory the 32 points of the compass, known in maritime training as "boxing the compass," is described by Ansted (A Dictionary of Sea Terms, Brown Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1933) with pronunciations "Nor'east (or west)," "Nor' Nor'-east (or west)," "Nor'east b' east (or west)," and so forth. According to the OED, the first recorded use of the term "nor'easter" occurs in 1836 in a translation of Aristophanes. The term "nor'easter" naturally developed from the historical spellings and pronunciations of the compass points and the direction of wind or sailing.

As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of Soundings magazine, use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast. Yet it has been asserted by some that "nor'easter" as a contraction for "northeaster" has no basis in regional New England dialect and is a "fake" word, which is a parochial view that neglects the little-known etymology and the historical maritime usage described above.

Common coastal New England pronunciation (both seafaring and not) for "nor'easter" is “naw-EE-stuh” (like "LOB-stah" for "lobster"). Off the coast, (Vermont), the pronunciation is closer to "noar-eastuh". According to a handful of 20th-century, Maine-based authors, Downeast mariners historically pronounced the compass point "north northeast" as "no'nuth-east," and so on. For decades, Edgar Comee, of Brunswick, Maine, waged a determined battle against use of the term "nor’easter" by the press, which usage he considered “a pretentious and altogether lamentable affectation” and “the odious, even loathsome, practice of landlubbers who would be seen as salty as the sea itself”. His efforts, which included mailing hundreds of postcards, were profiled, just before his death at the age of 88, in The New Yorker.^[1]

Despite the efforts of Mr. Comee and others, use of the term continues by the press. According to Boston Globe writer Jan Freeman, “from 1975 to 1980, journalists used the nor'easter spelling only once in five mentions of such storms; in the past year (2003), more than 80 percent of northeasters were spelled nor'easter”.^[2]

University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman has pointed out that while the OED cites examples dating back to 1837, they represent the contributions of a handful of non-New England poets and writers. Liberman posits that "nor’easter" may have originally been a literary affectation, akin to "e'en" for "even" and "th'only" for "the only", which is an indication in spelling that two syllables count for only one position in metered verse, with no implications for actual pronunciation.^[3]

In The Day After Tomorrow, the 3 superstorms were partially based off the Nor'easters.

• The Blizzard of 1888
• The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962
• The Groundhog Day gale of 1976
• The Northeastern United States Blizzard of 1978 (the "Blizzard of '78")
• The Thanksgiving 1984 Nor'easter
• The Halloween Nor'easter of 1991 (the "Perfect Storm," combined Nor'easter/hurricane)
• The 1993 North American Storm Complex
• The North American blizzard of 1996
• The Atlantic Canada blizzard of February 2004 ("White Juan")
• The North American blizzard of 2005
• The North American blizzard of 2006
• The Late November Nor'easter of 2006

• Sou'easter, a similar weather phenomenon with winds from the southeast^[4]

1. ^ "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker, issue of 5 September 2005.
2. ^ Jan Freeman, "The Word". The Boston Globe, issue of 21 December 2003.
3. ^ Mark Liberman, "Nor'easter considered fake". Language Log, 25 January 2004.
4. ^ "Southeaster" at the American Meteorological Society Glossary of Meteorology

• NOR'EASTERS: Comprehension, Preparation and Survival. Multi-Community Environmental Storm Observatory (MESO) (octobre 2002). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.

• Blizzard Video: Dec 9, 2005 Duration: 9m59sec

• Archived issues of NOR'EASTER (Magazine of the Northeast Sea Grant Programs), published until 1999.